Portable traffic marker



Oct. 25, 1960 G. L. BOETTLER PORTABLE TRAFFIC MARKER Filed Jan. s. 1958 INVENTOR. GERALD L. BOETTLER United States Patent 2,957,444 PORTABLE TRAFFIC MARKER Gerald L. Boettler, PD. Box 411, Kent, Ohio Filed 'Jan. 6, 1958, Ser. No. 707,236 5 Claims. (Cl. 116- 63) This invention relates to portable traffic markers of the type adapted to be temporarily positioned on a street or road to guide or direct traflic while the street or road is being repaired, painted with marking lines, or the like.

Various portable markers have been provided heretofore, these usually being made of some kind of flexible material so that if a car should strike the marker the cars tires and car will not be damaged. Rubber and rubberized fabric have been used in particular with a conical type of traflic marker, but known markers of this type have often been made from such shoddy material that the markers do not hold up in use. Moreover, the punishment to a marker when a vehicle runs over it is so severe that its life is short even when made from good grade material.

It has likewise been the practice in the past to paint rubber and rubberized fabric markers of the type described with contrasting color paint so that they can be made more visible, but such paint wears or cracks off in use and does not last very long under normal service conditions.

Again, known types of markers are apt to be overturned by the Wind blast from a passing truck, and then the marker not only fails to perform but can become a traffic hazard rolling around in a main traflic lane.

It is the general object of the invention to avoid and overcome'the foregoing and other difficulties of and objections to prior art practices by the provision of an improved, relatively inexpensive,.long-lived, flexible .traffic marker of the portable type particularly adapted to resist cracking and deterioration inuse, even when run over by avehicle, and in which the colors-are permanently molded into the marker by being compounded into the plastic of the marker.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a flexible conical marker of the type described and wherein the outermost surface of the marker is formed of transparent plastic having distributed therethrough granular light reflective particles making the marker clearly visible in a vehicles headlights at night.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hold down for the portable marker, the hold-down comprising an inverted shallow cup-shaped heavy metal plate having a central opening removably receiving the conical body and engaging the flange of the marker to prevent the marker from being blown over, as by the passage of a heavy truck near it.

The foregoing objects of the invention, and other objects which will become apparent as the description proceeds, are achieved by the provision of a portable marker for traffic and including a flexible, thin-walled conical body formed of integrally fused layers of vinyl plastisol, one layer of pigment colored plastisol extending downwardly from the small end of the conical body part way of the length thereof, and a second layer of contrastly pigmented plastisol backing the first-named layer and terminating at the large end of the conical body ice in an integral base, the base including an endless flange extending at a right angle to the axis of the conical body, and an endless skirt around the periphery of the flange.

The invention also teaches employing an outermost layer of transparent plastisol over the conical body and having distributed therethrough granular light reflective particles, and this outermost layer can be utilized on the conical body with or without the first-named layer of pigment colored plastisol extending only part way of the length of the conical body.

The invention includes an inverted shallow cup-shaped heavy metal plate having a central opening removably receiving the conical body of the marker and engaging the flange to hold down the marker and prevent it from being blown over, the metal plate having a total height about equal to the height of the skirt 0n the base. Of course, in some uses of the portable marker the holddown plate does not have to be employed.

For a better understanding of the invention reference should be had to the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. l is a perspective view of a portable marker constructed in accord with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 2--2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a front elevation, partially broken away, and

on a smaller scale, of the marker of the invention utilized in conjunction with the hold-down plate of the invention.

Having particular reference to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates generally a conical body, terminating in an integral base 12 having a flange portion 14 extending substantially at right angles to the axis of the conical body'lll, and with the flange l4 terminating in a downwardly directed skirt 16 having feet 18 extending downwardly therefrom at spaced points around the skirt. The use of feet 18 provides for some flow of air or water if beneath the base 12.

Turning now particularly to Fig. 2 of the drawings, the conical body indicated as a whole by the numeral it] is preferably formed of an outermost layer 20 of transparent plastic having embedded therethrough granular particles of light reflective character, an intermediate layer 22 of color pigmented plastisol, the intermediate layer 22 extending only part way from the small end ofthe cone downwardly of the conical body, as best seen in Fig 1. Likewise incorporated with the conical body 10 is an innermost layer 24 of contrastly pigmented plastisol integrally fused to intermediate layer 22 and outermost layer 20, and with the innermost layer 24 extending downwardly to form the base 12 including flange 14, skirt 16 and feet 18, all integrally, as heretofore described. The layers 20, 22 and 24 are preferably formed of polyvinyl chloride plastisol and are fused intimately and integrally together to provide a particularly durable, flexible, and long-lived construction which can be run over by a vehicle in actual use or subjected to other severe wear or service conditions without cracking, discoloring, or losing its light reflective or color characteristics.

In Fig. 3 is shown a portable marker having a conical body 10 and a base 12, used in association with the holddown plate of the invention. The hold-down plate is indicated generally by the numeral 30 and includes an inverted shallow cup-shaped heavy metal member 32 having a central opening 34 removably receiving the conical body 10, and engaging the flange 14 of the marker. The plate 30 may be formed with circumferentially spaced, radially directed strengthening webs 36 and the entire plate and webs are conveniently coated with a polyvinyl chloride cover 38, which preferably has been ample, the intermediate layer 22 can be pigmented with a light red, the layer 24 with a bright yellow, and the layer 38 with either a bright yellow or a light red. The total height of the hold-down 30 is usually made equal, approximately, to the height of the skirt 16.

While a certain representative embodiment and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as it is defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A movable marker for traflic and including a flexiblethin-walled conical body formed of integrally fused layers of vinyl plastisol, the outermost layer being of transparent plastisol having distributed therethrough granular light-reflective particles, an intermediate layer of pigment colored plastisol extending downwardly from the small end of the cone part Way of the length of the cone and an innermost layer of contrastly pigmented plastisol backing the intermediate layer and the outermost layer and terminating at the large end of the cone in an integral enlarged base, said base including an endless flange extending radially outward at a right angle to the axis of the conical body, and an endless depending skirt around the periphery of the flange, an inverted shallow cupshaped heavy metal plate having a central opening removably receiving the conical body above its flange and an annular chamber thereabout engaging over the flange to hold down the marker and prevent it from being blown over, the annular chamber of the metal plate having a total height about equal to the height of the skirt, said conical body being non-removably retained against removal upwardly of said base.

2. A movable marker for traffic and including a flexible, thin-walled conical body formed of integrally fused layers of vinyl plastisol, the outermost layer being of transparent plastisol having distributed therethrough granular light-reflective particles, an intermediate layer of pigment colored plastisol extending downwardly from the small end of the cone part way of the length of the cone, and an innermost layer of contrastly pigmented plastisol backing the intermediate layer and the outermost layer and terminating at the large end of the cone in an integral base, said base including an endless flange extending at substantially a right angle to the axis of the conical body, and a substantially endless skirt around the periphery of the flange.

3. A movable marker for tralfic and including a flexian annular flange thereabout 4 ble, thin-walled conical body terminating at the large end of the cone in an integral base, said base including an endless radial flange extending at substantially a right angle to the axis of the conical body, and an endless depending skirt around the periphery of the flange, an inverted shallow cup-shaped heavy metal plate having a central opening removably receiving the conical body and defining an annular chamber and engaging the flange to hold down the marker and prevent it from being blown over, the metal plate having a total height about equal to the height of the skirt, said conical body being non-removably retained against removal upwardly of said base.

4. A movable marker for traflic and including a flexible, thin-walled conical body formed of integrally fused layers of vinyl plastisol, the outermost layer being of transparent plastisol having distributed therethrough granular light-reflective particles, and an innermost layer of pigmented plasisol backing the outermost layer and terminating at the large end of the cone in an integral base, said base including an endless flange extending at substantially a right angle to the axis of the conical body, and a substantially endles skirt around the periphery of the flange.

5. A movable marker for traflic and including a flexible, thin-walled conical body formed of integrally fused layers of vinyl plastisol, one layer of pigment colored plastisol extending downwardly from the small end of the cone part way of the length of the cone, and a second layer of contrastly pigmented plastisol backing the firstnamed layer and terminating at the large end of the cone in an integral base, said base including an endless flange extending at substantially a right angle to the axis of the conical body, and a substantially endless skirt around the periphery of the flange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 248,504 Rhind Oct. 18, 1881 1,631,227 See June 7, 1927 2,208,080 Overdorif July 16, 1940 2,444,059 Neher June 29, 1948 2,719,505 Blumenthal Oct. 4, 1955 2,762,327 Weig Sept. 11, 1956 2,821,950 Corbin Feb. 4, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 688,310 Great Britain Mar. 4, 1953 

